1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and, more particularly, to a refrigerator, which allows more easy inspection to detect leakage of refrigerant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator is an apparatus for generating cold air, using a refrigerant cycle, to maintain freshness of food for a long time.
The refrigerator is structured such that a refrigerating compartment for storing the food in a refrigerated state and a freezing compartment for storing the food in a frozen state are partitioned in a body defining an appearance of the refrigerator, so that the food may be stored in the refrigerating compartment or in the freezing compartment after being classified in accordance with storing temperature of the food.
Recently, there is suggested a refrigerator with an independent cooling system, which independently cools the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment with evaporators disposed at the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, respectively.
In such a conventional refrigerator, being respectively disposed at the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, two evaporators are communicated with each other through an assistant capillary pipe welded between refrigerant pipes respectively extending from the evaporators. Further, in order to prevent inner walls of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment from being damaged by sparks generated during the welding operation for connecting the refrigerant pipes, the welding is carried out in the machinery chamber by guiding the refrigerant pipes into the machinery chamber defined at an upper portion of the refrigerator.
The machinery chamber is provided with a capillary pipe container provided with an assistant capillary pipe and with a thermal insulation member for thermally insulating the assistant capillary pipe, in order to prevent the assistant capillary pipe disposed in the machinery chamber from being affected by heat generated in the machinery chamber or to prevent condensed water from being generated in the machinery chamber due to cold air produced during expansion of the refrigerant caused by reduced pressure thereof in the assistant capillary pipe.
Meanwhile, when mounting the assistant capillary pipe and the thermal insulation member in the capillary pipe container, respectively, if force is applied to the assistant capillary pipe and the refrigerant pipe connected with each other, connection between the assistant capillary pipe and the refrigerant pipe, which are welded to each other, is weakened, so that the refrigerant may leak through the improper connection. Thus, a process for inspecting leakage of the refrigerant with a refrigerant detection device for detecting the leakage is included in the manufacturing process, in order to inspect for leakage of the refrigerant through the connection between the assistant capillary pipe and the refrigerant pipe after mounting the assistant capillary pipe in the capillary container.
However, in order to inspect for the leakage of the refrigerant through the connection between the assistant capillary pipe and the refrigerant pipe, the capillary pipe container should be disassembled before the leakage inspection, and then the capillary pipe container should be assembled again after the inspection. Thus, there occurs a problem that the operation for inspecting for the leakage of the refrigerant from the connection is complicatedly carried out.